


"I don't have a soulmate," said the liar

by Chrystie, kate882



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, mentioned bokuaka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: On Oikawa’s twenty first birthday he was dragged out to celebrate that his soulmark was about to appear by Kuroo at midnight. At 2:38 in the morning he looked at his wrist, saw Iwaizumi Hajime written across it, took another shot, and made a note in his phone to start wearing a watch.





	"I don't have a soulmate," said the liar

On Oikawa’s twenty first birthday he was dragged out to celebrate that his soulmark was about to appear by Kuroo at midnight. At 2:38 in the morning he looked at his wrist, saw Iwaizumi Hajime written across it, took another shot, and made a note in his phone to start wearing a watch.

“So, what’s the name?” Kuroo asked, swaying on his feet.

"Who cares, want another drink?”

“Fuck yeah I do.”

The next morning Oikawa decided a watch could wait because the pounding in his skull demanded to be dealt with.

He had about twenty text messages asking about his soulmark and it wasn’t even noon yet. He turned his phone off.

* * *

When he ventured out for coffee, sunglasses firmly in place and a long sleeved shirt on, he got at least five people approaching him, and his dorm was really not that far away from the coffee shop on campus. “I didn’t get one. I’m free of the universe’s plans,” he lied. He bought two coffees and went back to his dorm where he could avoid everyone. Everyone except Kuroo, who was just waking up, and who he passed a coffee to.

“So,” Kuroo said after a long sip of his coffee, “Why you hiding your wrist?”

“So that people will leave me alone about it,” he said, giving Kuroo a pointed look as he downed half of his own coffee.

“They might if you just tell them who it is.”

“Nah, I don’t have a soulmate. I’ve decided this morning that soulmates are stupid and I want no part in this process.”

“Mm hmm,” Kuroo didn’t sound the least bit convinced and just directed a Look at Oikawa.

“Yep.” Oikawa finished his coffee and then went to the bathroom to find their supply of aspirin, downing some of that with a cup of water.

“So who is it?” Kuroo repeated, completely unfazed.

“Don’t have one. You want any?” He held up the aspirin bottle.

“Yep,” Kuroo held out his hand for some and downed the pills with the rest of his coffee. “Totally don’t believe you, by the way.”

“You don’t have to. It’s the story I’m sticking with though,” he said as he put the aspirin bottle away.

Kuroo didn’t look completely satisfied by that, but was apparently willing to drop the subject for the moment. “Did Iwaizumi text you yet? Since, y’know, he does that every year.”

“Don’t know. Turned my phone off. The message notifications were worsening my headache.” He eyed the device still sitting on his nightstand and decided to deal with it later.  

“Just remember to turn it on before he calls. You know he’ll freak out if you don’t answer.”

“It’s almost noon, there’s no way he hasn’t alread-” he was cut off by Kuroo’s phone ringing with Iwaizumi’s contact flashing on the screen. “Don’t answer it.”

Kuroo, blatantly ignoring Oikawa, swiped his phone to answer with a more cheery than he felt, “Hey Iwaizumi! He’s right here.”

Oikawa mouthed a silent ‘traitor’ to Kuroo before taking the phone and answering. “Sorry. My phone is off. Too many lights and sounds for a hangover.”

“A few of those sounds came from me. This morning. To make sure you didn’t get alcohol poisoning.” Despite the anger, Iwaizumi sounded mostly relieved.

“The jury is still out on that one, but I’ve had coffee so I feel slightly more like a living person now. Still waiting for the pain meds to kick in though. And Tetsu-chan has been harassing me, which doesn’t help.”

“Am not!” Kuroo shouted from where he had repositioned himself on their couch.

Oikawa winced at the volume. “Yeah, like that. Shouting while I have a hangover. I brought him coffee and everything.”

“Well he’s hurting himself that way too. So - uh,” Iwaizumi started a little nervously, which was really unlike him, “Have you looked at your arm at all?”

Yeah, Oikawa hadn’t thought he could avoid that for too long. But with Iwaizumi going to another school, he was hoping he could lie a little better. “Yeah, nothing there. Guess the universe doesn’t have any plans for me,” he said casually.

“Really?” Iwaizumi sounded a mixture of relief of disappointment. “Were you hoping for anyone?”

“Not really. I’m keeping my options open. And apparently the universe wants me to keep doing that,” he said breezily, sitting down on his bed and glaring at Kuroo who was giving him another look.

“Yeah, apparently. I’ll still be seeing you in a few weeks?”

Oh, right. That would make the lie a bit harder. Hopefully some makeup and a watch would do the trick. “Yeah, of course. Maki and Matsun said they’re going to be in town for the break too, so we can all meet up.”

“Sounds like a plan. Is Kuroo following you back this time too?” Kuroo had followed Oikawa home and crashed his parents’ house while he was there during their last few breaks. Apparently Oikawa’s parents loved him despite his inability to look presentable.

“I don’t know.” Oikawa stopped glaring at Kuroo. “Tetsu-chan, are you coming home with me or back to your place for the break?”

“I was back at my place yesterday,” Kuroo shrugged, “I can go there any time during the year.” The benefits of going to school in Tokyo. “Besides, your parents are cool.”

“Tetsu-chan is following me home,” Oikawa confirmed into Kuroo’s phone.

“Good. He’s one of the best parts of seeing you.”

“I’m hanging up. I’m too hungover for you being mean to me like this on my birthday,” Oikawa said and did just that.

That didn’t stop Iwaizumi from still sending a text to Kuroo’s phone saying _Happy Birthday, Doofus._

Oikawa sent back a series of emojis before tossing the phone back to Kuroo.

Kuroo stared judgingly at Oikawa for a minute, just to make him uncomfortable. “It’s Iwaizumi, isn’t it.”

“What makes you say that?” Oikawa steadfastly didn’t answer.

“Because I’m not an idiot.”

“And I would never accuse you of being one.”

“Which is why you know that I know that it’s Iwaizumi.”

Oikawa folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not talking about this.”

"Sure you aren’t,” Kuroo smiled, “It involves talking about feelings. Even more than that, it involves talking about feelings you definitely have for your childhood friend.”

Oikawa felt his face heating up and threw his pillow at Kuroo. “Shut up.”

“Why?” Kuroo smirked, “I’m talking about it ‘cause you aren’t.”

“I’ll trade you a blow job for shutting up.”

“Nah. So did you have feelings for him before this?”

“Leave me alone, you’re an awful friend.”

“You’re gonna have to tell him eventually.” Kuroo was apparently ruthless, which Oikawa already knew but that didn’t mean he had to turn that ruthlessness onto him.

“Says you. I’ve managed this long.” Oikawa laid down and pulled his blanket over his head.

“Yeah, but now his name is inked on your wrist. Can’t hide that for long.”

“Says you,” Oikawa repeated. “He still doesn’t know I have glasses. It’s easy to make people miss the things you don’t want them to see.”

Kuroo went back to staring at him in disbelief despite Oikawa not being able to see him. “How? Why?”

“Half the school doesn’t know. You only found out a month after I got them.”

“I what?!”

“I’m a mystery,” Oikawa mumbled from under his blanket. “And I think I look better without them.”

“You know that’s not true right? You’re like a cute nerd with them.”

“I don’t like them. And I don’t like feelings. So that’s where this conversation stands, and I’d like if we dropped it altogether.”

“Can’t avoid it forever,” Kuroo practically sang.

“Watch me.”

* * *

He did manage to keep anyone at his school from finding out, other than Tsukishima, who didn't say anything but gave him an impassive stare when he said he didn’t have a soulmark that Oikawa knew meant he was calling bullshit. Oikawa ignored it. It was impossible to bullshit Tsukishima anyway. The guy was practically psychic. Attempting was a lost cause.

“Iwa-chan!” When Oikawa spotted Iwaizumi at the train station where he and Kuroo were waiting for him, Oikawa practically launched himself into Iwaizumi’s arms, wide smile on his face. “You don’t face time me enough,” he declared.

“I facetime you every other night,” Iwaizumi laughed, easily catching Oikawa in the air.

“Not enough,” Oikawa reiterated.

“Aw,” Kuroo cooed from the side, “How cute. He really missed you Iwaizumi.”

“Yeah, I missed him too.” Iwaizumi put Oikawa down, more to regain balance than anything else, and ruffled his hair. “It’s good to see you too, Kuroo. Oikawa hasn’t ruined you yet, has he?”

“What’s to ruin, he was like this when I met him,” Oikawa said, casually throwing an arm around Iwaizumi’s shoulders.

“You got a point there, but knowing you, you could probably do something to him.” Iwaizumi looked down to the hand just hanging off his shoulder after something caught a glint in the light. “Since when did you start wearing a watch?”

“Since a teacher refused to put a clock in the room and doesn’t allow phones,” Oikawa replied. “And I’ve made like five new friends because of it, because I’m the guy in the room who knows how long until we can leave.” The second half was true at least.

“Pretty sure that’s probably not the only reason they talked to you,” Iwaizumi muttered, “That’s a pretty big watch though.”

Oikawa shrugged. “It was the one I liked best.”

Iwaizumi eyed it skeptically but shrugged. “You always did have weird taste.”

“Rude. I have good taste. You’re the only one who doesn’t think so.” Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him.

“Everyone who tells you that is trying to spare your feelings.”

“Or get in his pants,” Kuroo chimed in. Oikawa glared between the two of them.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi sighed, wrapping his arm around Oikawa’s waist, “or that.”

 _“Or_ they actually like my clothes,” Oikawa huffed.

“Sure, Oikawa, you keep believing that.”

“You’re both the worst. Why are you my friends?”

“Oh hey, look who it is?” Hanamaki’s voice came from behind them, Matsukawa trailing behind him.

“Nevermind. You guys are the second worst. After those two.”

“Rude.”

* * *

“Hey Oikawa, let’s get lunch!” Iwaizumi called out as he burst into Oikawa’s house. His parents really should learn to lock the back door.

“Jesus Christ, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa jumped and spun around, glasses going slightly askew with the sudden motion. “This is why you’re supposed to knock. So that I don’t get a heart attack.”

Iwaizumi blinked at him. “What the hell? When did you get blind?”

“I’m not _blind,”_ Oikawa said indignantly.

“Well last time I checked, you sure didn’t have glasses.”

“I’ve had them for a little over a year,” Oikawa mumbled, going back to digging through his fridge to find a drink.

“A what?! I facetime you every two days! I saw you three months ago! Why didn’t you tell me you were going blind?”

“Half the school doesn’t know, it’s not a big deal. I just sometimes wear glasses. When I can’t avoid it.” He finally emerged from his fridge with a water bottle.

Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa, moving to stand in front of him and flick him in the forehead. “Anything else you’re not telling me?”

“Ow.” Oikawa sent a pout his way and rubbed his forehead. “No need for violence. I’ll wear them when I talk to you now. I’m really supposed to be wearing them all the time anyway, according to the eye doctor.”  

“What the hell are you doing to your eyes?”

“Nothing! Things are just kind of blurry now. And contacts feel weird.”

Iwaizumi’s glare narrowed. “If I see you without your glasses, I’ll kick your ass.”

“Hey! Violence is not the answer. Breaking my body won’t fix my eyes.”

“No, but it might motivate you to not make them worse by over-wearing your contacts.”

“Oh, I don’t wear the contacts. I told you, they feel weird. I’ll take the headache and fuzziness over those any day,” he told Iwaizumi before taking a sip of his drink.

Iwaizumi responded with the slap to the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“That’s for being an idiot.”

“You’re a mean best friend.”

“I’m a bestfriend that makes sure you aren’t being stupid, and I haven’t been doing my job right.”

“That’s not your fault. Tetsu-chan’s been trying, and it hasn’t worked for him either.”

“Wait, don’t throw me under the bus here, I thought you were wearing contacts this whole time,” Kuroo called from where he was eavesdropping on the stairs.

Iwaizumi responded with another slap to the back of Oikawa's head. “Dumbass.”

Oikawa had to catch his glasses to keep them from hitting the floor when the slap knocked them off his face. “I can't wear them if you break them, Iwa-chan, I've only got one pair.”

“Dumbass,” Iwaizumi repeated, but refrained from hitting him again. “So, anything else?”

Oikawa put his glasses back on. “Not that I can think of, no.” He could hear Kuroo coughing, but his expression didn’t falter. “Tetsu-chan, would you like some of my water?”

“Nope, I'm good.” He was still silently judging Oikawa.

Iwaizumi looked skeptical but didn't push. “Alright. So, lunch?”

“Sure, where should we go?”

* * *

“Captain!” Oikawa suddenly found himself with an arm around his shoulders.

“I can't just buy coffee in peace?” He complained.

“Nope,” Hanamaki said cheerily as he took Oikawa’s other side, effectively trapping him.

“What do you two want? I’m not even your captain anymore.”

“That's a nice watch you've got,” Matsukawa said amicably. “Weird that we heard you've been wearing it all semester, but it only showed up on your instagram a few weeks ago. Right after you turned twenty one.”

Oikawa tensed up but didn't say anything.

“Now Captain,” Hanamaki mockingly chided, ignoring Oikawa’s previous statement, “You aren’t hiding something, are you?”

“No, but I might start trying to hide from you two if you're going to start following me around.”

“That hurts. And after all we’ve been through. We could forgive you if you, I don’t know, let us see your watch up close and personal.”

Oikawa shook them off and picked up his coffee. “Back off you guys. I forgot how nosey you are in our time apart.”

“It is a nice watch,” Matsukawa said passively, holding it up to observe, and Oikawa froze. “You really should be more careful when you have people standing so close to you. It’d be a shame if someone stole it.”

“Or even just shifted it enough to see the makeup underneath.”

Oikawa shifted uncomfortably as the two stared him down. “It’s Iwa-chan, alright. Now give that back and leave me alone.” He snatched the watch out of Matsukawa’s hand and put it back on, cheeks pink, and expression flustered. He absently wondered when they had picked up the art of pickpocketing, because they certainly hadn’t had it back in highschool.

“Of course it is,” Hanamaki smirked, “Why else would you hide it. Why _are_ you hiding it though?”

“Because, if you don’t remember, his birthday is before mine. I already know I’m not his. So, as far as anyone needs to know, I don’t have a soulmate. I’m free to be with whoever I want because the universe has no plans for me.”

“I remember him not being into the soulmate idea,” Matsukawa replied.

“Yeah, well, easy for him to say. He doesn’t know his soulmate yet,” Oikawa muttered, taking a sip from his coffee and heading for the exit, not even a little surprised when the two followed him.

“How’re you sure he doesn’t know him? You haven’t seen him in months, he could’ve met him at some point.”

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. “You know something I don’t Makki? I talk to Iwa-chan all the time.”

“Do I?” Hanamaki feigned innocence (poorly), “I can’t imagine what I would know that you didn’t.”

“Although, maybe since we met him on the train on the way here, you know since our schools are so close, we might have seen something interesting. Can’t imagine why he wouldn’t tell you though. Maybe we should keep it to ourselves…”

“What do you want for the information?”

Two matching grins greeted him.

* * *

“He’s mad at you,” Kuroo told Iwaizumi casually from the kitchen when Iwaizumi walked in.

Iwaizumi blinked and immediately ran through all the things he’d done wrong in the last seventy two hours. “He ran into Hanamaki and Matsukawa,” was the conclusion he came to.

“Sure did. He’s in his room.” Kuroo gestured towards the stairs.

Iwaizumi sighed and trudged up the stairs. He had been kind of hoping this conversation would happen casually without making a big deal about it. Looked like that wouldn’t be the case. He sighed again and went upstairs. “Oikawa,” Iwaizumi called as he knocked on the door, “can we talk?”

“About what?”

“You know about what. You wouldn’t be mad if you didn’t.”

Oikawa opened his door and glared. “You were mad at me _a day ago_ for not telling you something. You’re supposed to be the honest one in this relationship! What the hell?”

“I wasn’t keeping it from you!” Iwaizumi countered, “I just didn’t think it was that important!”

“Not that important?! You met your soulmate on your way here, and didn’t tell me! That seems important!” Oikawa retreated back into his room because he knew Kuroo was probably eavesdropping on the stairs again. “Well congrats, I guess. Hanamaki said he’s pretty,” Oikawa muttered, not looking at Iwaizumi.  

“Yeah, I met him. So what? It wasn’t that big of a deal.” Iwaizumi decided to ignore the pretty comment, since he was actually really pretty.

“It is a big deal though! And you didn’t tell me.” Oikawa frowned at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Iwaizumi awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I was kinda hoping it’d just slip into conversation.”

Oikawa didn’t look impressed. “And how were you expecting that to just come up?”

Well when Oikawa looked at him like that, it was hard to not feel stupid. “Something along the lines of ‘hey you make any new friends?’ ‘nah, I ran into my soulmate though.’”

Oikawa somehow looked less impressed with him.

“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi groaned, “You’re being ridiculous. It’s not like meeting him was a life changing event or anything.”

“Well are you going to tell me about it or what?”

“Do you want to hear about it? Or are you gonna get more mad?”

Oikawa shrugged, sitting down on his bed.

Iwaizumi sighed and sat down on the floor leaning against the door. “There’s not really much to tell. His name is Akaashi, which you know. I ran into him while on the train, saw my name on his arm, and we just talked for a bit until I ran into Hanamaki and Matsukawa. He’s a cool guy, I guess.”

Oikawa was doing the thing where he wasn’t looking at Iwaizumi again. “What did you talk about?”

“I don’t know? Stuff? It was a two hour train ride. There was some stuff about school, and some stuff about you, and bit about his boyfriend. Regular stuff.”

“...his boyfriend?” Oikawa reluctantly met Iwaizumi’s eyes.

“Yeah, he talked about his boyfriend a lot. Guy named Bokuto. They sound pretty happy together.”

“Oh.”

Iwaizumi’s shoulders relaxed. He hadn’t even noticed that they were tense. “What? Did you think I went and got a boyfriend without telling you? You know I wouldn’t do that.”

“Well that’s what Maki and Matsun made it sound like,” he mumbled.

“Well they’re both stupid. They also live for getting a rise out of you.” Iwaizumi got up from the floor to sit next to Oikawa on his bed, now sure that Oikawa wasn’t just going to kick him off. Which he had learned from years of experience that Oikawa would absolutely do. “We both agreed we’d be better as friends. Platonic soulmates or whatever.”

“I’m still mad you didn’t tell me,” Oikawa said, but he sounded significantly less upset.

“What was there to tell? I made a new friend, that’s all.”

Oikawa gave him a light punch to the arm. “It’s still worth mentioning.”

“Yeah well, now you know. I’ve seen prettier, anyway,” Iwaizumi chuckled.

“Duh. You’ve met me.”

“Uh huh. How pretty can you be with your hair like this?” Iwaizumi said as he ruffled Oikawa’s hair.

“Hey!” Oikawa smacked his hand away with a pout.

Iwaizumi responded by loosely draping his arm over Oikawa’s shoulders. “Since you’re done being stupid, how about we give Kuroo some company since he’s probably trying to press his ear through your door.”

“Am not!” Kuroo shouted from outside the room.

“You're such a fucking gossip, Tetsu-chan.” Oikawa rolled his eyes when he got no response to that other than Kuroo walking in with a wide grin.

* * *

Oikawa was bound to mess up eventually, especially with how aware of him Iwaizumi always was. All it had taken was for Iwaizumi to glance down at the watch to check the time. “Oikawa,” he’d said a little confused, “Is that makeup on your wrist?” He grabbed his wrist before Oikawa could move away and held it up to his face.

“I don't wear makeup, Iwa-chan. And if I did it wouldn't go on my wrist,” he answered, trying to pull his arm away.

Iwaizumi rubbed at Oikawa’s wrist with his thumb. “No, that’s definitely makeup. Why are you wearing makeup on the wrist you said there was nothing on?”

Oikawa pulled a little harder, but Iwaizumi wasn’t letting go. “I told you I’m not. Can I have my arm back?”

Iwaizumi effortlessly peeled the watch off as though Oikawa hadn’t been putting in any effort at all, and sure enough, there was something there that was too covered to be completely legible. Iwaizumi’s grip on Oikawa tightened as he turned a glare towards Oikawa. “Talk.”

Oikawa shrunk back from the glare. “I would prefer not to.”

“Okay, then I’ll ask. Why the hell did you lie?”

“Because, just because you don’t buy into the whole soulmates thing doesn’t mean I don’t.”

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have told me who it is.”

“That’s exactly why I couldn’t tell you!” Oikawa sighed and reached over to rub the remaining makeup off of his wrist until Iwaizumi’s name was visible. “You already have a soulmate. So I kept quiet.”

Iwaizumi’s eyes softened at the sight of his own name on Oikawa’s wrist and loosened his grip. “You still could’ve told me.”

“Yeah, cause that’s easy to do. ‘Hey Iwa-chan, it looks like I’m destined to have one sided feelings for you forever, and that it’s not something I’m getting over any time soon like I was thinking I would back in highschool. That won’t make things weird, right?’ For someone who talks about how much of an ego I have all the time you really shouldn’t expect me to do something like that just to crush it.”

Iwaizumi was silent for a moment, probably deciding how to respond to any of that, which resulted in him lightly flicking Oikawa on the forehead, not even enough to hurt. “Who ever said anything about that being one-sided, stupid.”

Oikawa’s eyes widened. “You…” He couldn’t seem to find the words he wanted.

Iwaizumi responded with a kiss to his forehead in the same place he’d flicked it a moment ago. “Don’t ever think about hiding shit like that from me again.”

Oikawa opened his mouth to reply before a crashing sound came from off to the side of the room and then Kuroo’s voice, “Oh fuck!” as he picked up his phone. “Sorry! I ruined the moment. I was going to take a picture. You guys are really cute though!”

The shocked yelp that came from him as Iwaizumi chucked a pillow at his face was almost satisfying enough to not chase him out. Almost.


End file.
